I'm Just a Man
by SullyR
Summary: This story is about Len Kagamine who has to deal with the hardships of life. He has to do things that other teenagers don't normally do every day. He is not like regular teenagers. He has to look at things in an adult's point of view. Will you follow and see where this journey leads Len? . . .
1. Chapter 1

Len Kagamine: 1st person p.o.v.

I was thrown into the dumps again . . . Oh well. I should be used to this by now. I get up, dust my waiter uniform off and head back into the restaurant that I work part-time at. I don't have time to worry about getting bullied right now. I need to work and earn a living. My younger twin sister is back at our run-down apartment building doing her homework . . . hopefully. It's about to be nine o'clock, meaning my shift's almost over and then I'll ride my bike home—although those thugs stole it . . . again. It pisses me off but it's no biggie . . . I could always run here (my job), it'll be a good exercise.

"Kagamine! Thanks for your work today! You can go home now," my manager yelled at me from across the restaurant, where I was cleaning tables.

"Okay! Great work today." I bowed to my manager and before I left, he said he'll give me a raise. Man, that's great news!

I ended up taking the bus home. Once I got to the apartment, once again, I tried to avoid contact with the thugs that always hung around outside. I successfully made it inside without any problems. As I was on the elevator going up to the sixth floor of the apartment, I remembered when I was growing up, I was always made fun of by how foreign I looked from the rest of my Japanese peers. I can't help that I'm half Russian, but I was born and raised in Japan, so I had to deal with the harassment. As for my twin sister, Rin, I made sure nobody bullied her. I had everyone that ever tried to bully my sister bully me. I took twice the beating for the both of us, which has made me stronger through the years. I'm seventeen now, and my sister, who's become a little snobby, has known not to bring me any other problems other than to help her out with stuff like homework because of all I've done for her.

"Welcome home, Onii-chan!" Rin greeted me happily. She seemed to be doing fine, even though she's left alone for five hours because I have work on the weekdays.

"It's good to be back," I say, tapping her soft head. "Did you finish your homework?" Rin nodded.

"I made you dinner," Rin said, bringing my plate to me at the dinner table.

"Thanks for the meal, Rin." As I was eating, Rin sat across from me telling me all about her day. How this girl named Meiko thought she was everything.

"You know, she doesn't even look like she's in high school," Rin told me. I snorted. I continued to eat. Rin began, covering the side of her mouth, "You know, I heard that she drinks a lot of beer."

Once I finished, I clapped my hands together, "Thank you for the food," and put away my dirty dishes.

"Okay Rin, time for bed. Did you take your shower yet?" I asked my sister. She nodded. Rin looked so tired, despite her enthusiastic appearance. "Okay then, I'll sing for you. C'mon."

I and Rin sung together, "Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder" until she finally drifted off into her sleep, snoring softly.

I took my shower and did the rest of my unfinished homework until it was 12:30. It was a Thursday night, and I have to pay the bills tomorrow afternoon. So I finally went to bed. Another tiring day. This was my routine for at least four years. Ever since Mom and Dad got divorced and could no longer care for us, Rin and I. So I had to step up and be the man. I had to be more matured than everybody else. I can't joke around with my friends anymore because they have no worries.

They don't have to worry about avoiding thugs, or getting robbed, or evicted. They don't have part-time jobs because they have parents that care for them. I don't have time to hang out and go on dates, which is why I've saved all of that for Rin. Obviously, I'm still pondering on the dating thing for her.

I finally fell asleep after thinking about so many things. I'd be worn out and awake every day, like a hyper dog, or a child. I don't have work tomorrow, so school and bills are the only things to worry about. Rin, too, of course, but we go to the same high school.

**[Please review! I'd appreciate it! And tell me if you like it and want more!]**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Hi Len! How are you doing?" My best friend, Miku Hatsune greets me.

"I'm doing fine. How 'bout you?" I ask her. We're at school in our homeroom. Rin is in a separate class from us.

"I'm great!" Miku says happily. She's always happy, and that always seems to wash my worries away.

"You look cute today, Miku," I say honestly. She always does and I always tell her. And she always replies back with, "You look so handsome!"

"So . . . how's it going . . . with the whole working thing?" Miku asks me as she sits on the edge of my desk. I look up at her and admire her long, turquoise hair.

"I got a raise," I tell her. She claps her hands excitedly.

"Good for you!" she pauses for a minute and then continues, "You know, you can always ask for help. My family is always grateful to help you out."

I sigh. Miku does this from time to time. She's too nice, and I'm grateful for that. But I don't want to be pitied for the situation I'm in.

"It's okay Miku," I tap her back. She always worries about me.

The bell rang and as everyone took their seats, our teacher entered the room.

"Everyone, I'd like for you to meet our teacher's assistant for today," Gakupo-sensei said. He had his arm held out towards the door and in walked in a tall man with short turquoise hair.

"Oh my God," Miku whispered beside me.

"This is Mikuo Hatsune. Please give him your regards, everyone," Gakupo-sensei said. Everyone bowed their heads to him, saying "hajimemashite."

"That's my brother!" Miku whispered frantically, hitting my shoulder. It didn't hurt, I thought it was cute.

As the class grew silent, Mikuo looked up towards the top and end of the classroom at Miku and me. His eyes slanted as he looked at me with eyes saying "touch my sister and I'll kill you." Even though I've known him my whole life, and we're also best friends, if I ever hurt his sister, he would not hesitate to kill me.

Obviously I'd do the same thing if it were Rin's case.

Throughout our classes—I shared all of them with Miku and two of them with Rin—all I was focused on was my schoolwork and the bills that I had to pay once I got out of school. After that, I would pick up Rin after her afterschool dance class and me and her would go a couple of cities away to visit our father who works in a business.

We still keep in touch with our parents but it's more like visits, no family vacations. I usually let Rin stay with our father for a couple of hours because I have other things to do.

After our last class, Miku suddenly holds onto my collar and her grip tightens. "Are . . . you sure you're okay, Len?" she asks me, her voice cracking. I pull her into a hug and tap her back softly.

"I'm okay, Miku. Don't worry about me," I say gently. We stood like that, hugging, for a few minutes until Mikuo appears, clearing his throat.

When I finished paying my bills and picking up Rin, we started to head to the city by train.

While on the ride, I noticed that Rin was acting a little quiet.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. She started to fiddle with her fingers and began to speak in a low voice.

"I don't want to go," she says quietly. I sit next to her on the train since it was already empty.

"Why not?"

"He's mean to me when we visit. He ignores me and yells at me. And he always says, 'I wish you two sores were never born,'" Rin says. I notice a tear fall on her cheek and I pull her close to me and hug her.

"I'm sorry, Rin. I . . . knew that Dad would be like that, but I always told him to give you special treatment. I'm the only one to receive that punishment," I say, comforting her.

"But you're not alone!" Rin raises her voice suddenly. She begins to cry. This always happens to me. I know that I'm being selfish, keeping Rin away from all the hurt that keeps being shot at us.

"Rin . . . I know but, I have to do this."

So, eventually, we ended up taking the train back home. We got back at about 10 o'clock.

"I'm sorry we wasted our trip," Rin says once we're in our apartment.

"Don't worry about it. It didn't cost much."

"We have enough money saved. Len, you've been working for four years straight! What about college?" Rin asks me.

"You'll go to college," I say.

"You work all the time, Len. You do so much and you even have perfect grades. You can get a scholarship."

"Rin—"

"Len, you've done enough work. Can't you share the responsibility? We're both seventeen!"

"Rin!" I yell. She stops her chatter instantly. My eyes were watery. "Enough . . . please."

"I'm sorry," Rin apologizes. I just nod and head off to bed.

This job may be a little hard to handle, but I'm the only one who can do this. I can't have Rin do any of the work I'm doing because she'll be restless. She won't be focused on school or anything. I'm the only one who can actually keep up with all that's going on, and I don't really mind because this helps me be known to the real world earlier than usual.

There's no other way out. I'm not trying to seek help from others. I'm just a man.

**[I hoped you liked it! Please review and like/or favorite!—on my profile, you can see that there's a schedule for post updates and stuff!]**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for not updating yesterday . . . if anybody was looking forward to it. I'm sick so you know how it is, too lazy to do anything so . . . here it is now! Please review and favorite! (or am I asking too much? No, I think I'm good.)**

Chapter 3

"Len . . ." Rin says one early morning at breakfast.

"Yes?" I take a bite out of my toast and continue looking up a job in the newspaper I found by the doors of the apartment.

"Are you going to go to college at all?" she asks. I stop eating and look at her.

"It would be so much easier if we had parents, Rin. But . . . we're the same age; we both need to go to college, that's double the loan. We have enough for that, we even have enough to buy our own house . . . It's just that, I need to keep working."

"We have enough money."

"I know."

"You don't need to work anymore," Rin insists. Again with this? It's always this conversation.

"Fine, Rin. I'll talk with some of the teachers to help me get a scholarship that way I don't have to pay as much. You should try that as well—or I'll do that for you because you stutter when it comes to business and you break all connections," I say.

"I do not!" she yells at me. I nod.

"Sure you do." I take a sip of my banana smoothie before continuing. Rin gets out an orange to start making her fresh orange juice with too much sugar.

"After I get my scholarship, once I start college, I won't be living on campus, I have to take care of the apartment and stuff."

"What?" Rin says, scaring herself by the loudness of her voice, almost dropping her juice. I hold my hand up.

"As for you, you can live on campus if you want. Neru could even be your roommate," I say. Neru Akita is one of our friends.

"But she talks about you a lot," Rin complained.

"Oh well," I joked. We started laughing. I was glad that Rin was finally happy.

"Yay! You're going to college!" Rin sung happily.

"Not yet, Rin."

"But you will." I gave up protesting against her.

**[Yeah, it's a bit too short but deal with it~. There probably won't be an update next week—I'm still not sure, but we'll wait and see.]**


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